Past simple – irregular verbs

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Past simple – irregular verbs

Sophie has just arrived home after a work trip to the United States which turned into a nightmare.

Instructions

As you watch the video, look at the examples of past simple irregular verbs. They are in red in the subtitles. Then read the conversation below to learn more. Finally, do the grammar exercises to check you understand, and can use, the past simple irregular verbs.

Some verbs are irregular. Their past forms do not end in -ed.

So how do I know which verbs are regular and which are irregular?

You have to learn them!

Learn them from the list? Oh no!

It's not so bad. There aren't really so many verbs to learn and remember that English is much easier than many languages. The past forms don't change.

I took a taxi to the airport. (take → took)That was when we spoke. (speak → spoke)One person gave me his last bar of chocolate. (give → gave)

I see what you mean. I made, you made, he made, she made, it made, we made, they made!

Exactly! They're all the same. And the negatives are all formed with did + not + the infinitive without to. The question forms are very similar: did + subject pronoun + the infinitive without to.

What did you do all day in the airport?Did you have enough food?We didn't think you would get home in time for your birthday.

OK, you're right, that's not too bad. Are there any exceptions?

Yes the verb to be. The past form is was for I, he, she and it, but were for you, we and they.

It was horrible not being able to phone you two!
There wasn't any food. I was so hungry!
We were stuck in the airport.

So what about this verb list?

Right, here it is!

Present

Past Simple

Present

Past Simple

be

was / were

begin

began

break

broke

bring

brought

build

built

buy

bought

catch

caught

choose

chose

come

came

cost

cost

cut

cut

do

did

draw

drew

drink

drank

drive

drove

eat

ate

fall

fell

feel

felt

fight

fought

find

found

fly

flew

forget

forgot

freeze

froze

get

got

give

gave

go

went

have

had

hear

heard

hold

held

hit

hit

keep

kept

know

knew

learn

learnt

leave

left

lead

led

let

let

lie

lay

lose

lost

make

made

mean

meant

meet

met

pay

paid

put

put

read

read

ride

rode

run

ran

say

said

see

saw

sell

sold

send

sent

set

set

shut

shut

sing

sang

sit

sat

sleep

slept

speak

spoke

spend

spent

stand

stood

steal

stole

swim

swam

take

took

teach

taught

tell

told

think

thought

understand

understood

wake

woke

wear

wore

win

won

write

wrote

Wow! OK, so how do I learn these verbs?

There are lots of things you can try:

Make cards to test yourself – put the infinitive on one side and the past on the other.

Write sentences with different verbs in them. Include some negatives.

Make up stories and record yourself. The story could just be about what you did last weekend.

Do practice activities online. You can start by doing the ones below on this page!

Transcript

Sophie: Well, on Thursday afternoon I saw the weather forecast on the TV in the hotel and it said there was a big storm coming.

Oliver: Yes, that was when we spoke.

Sophie: That’s right. So, I took a taxi to the airport straight away. I wanted to leave before the storm came.

Daisy: Good idea. Did you get to the airport OK?

Sophie: Yes, I got there, but hundreds of other people had the same idea. The storm arrived faster than anybody expected so there were no flights! The road to the airport was completely flooded, so nobody could go back into town. We got stuck in the airport!

Oliver: Did you think it would be for so long?

Sophie: Not at all. We all thought one night ... possibly two ...

Daisy: Did you have enough food?

Sophie: I bought some food on the first day, but it wasn’t very good by the third day. On my birthday I had a packet of crisps and a two-day-old sandwich for lunch.

Oliver: Poor Mum.

Daisy: What about the bathrooms at the airport? Were you able to have a shower?

Sophie: No! The water pipes froze so after the first day there wasn’t any water. It wasn’t nice!

Oliver: That’s disgusting!

Sophie: Don’t worry. I’m clean now!

Daisy: So, what did you do all day in the airport?

Sophie: I met some really nice people! We talked, read, played cards. When they found out it was my birthday, one of them gave me his last bar of chocolate!

Daisy: Ah, cute!

Sophie: It was a strange feeling having no Internet connection, no phone line. It was horrible not being able to phone you two! We’re all so used to being connected all the time. It was hard. I know you think I’m on holiday when I’m working, but it’s not always easy you know!

Discussion

Comments

I remember last year I went to mountain with friends to see top of view .We started climbing the mountain at Saturday morning with some food and water.On the way we stuck in strong tyhpoon. It was dangerous for us .We stopped climbing the mountain on the way.I went to cottage .We spend few hour .after that typhoon was gone .We continued climbing the mountain.

I only been stuckk on rain, One day my friends and I went to buy some stuffs for a project when we came back to my home a terrible rain fall in the city and we didn't have money for thata reason we had to came back walking and we got wet and we had a flew for a few days but it was very funny

The truth that I live in a country that does not have the four seasons, ie no snow falls in my country, neither makes cold nor very great storms, although in the province that I live is too cold and almost always rains, then the climates in which I always get caught in the rain, and it rains a lot all day, so I'm almost always trapped in a bad weather hahaha, although it is not so much like in other countries that terrible storms, that destroy houses or flood places. And for that I am very grateful.

I remember when I was a kid, we went to trip (my family and me) we started our trip at early morning...on the way we stuck in morning fog...It was terrible!!! my dad was driving but he couldn't see the front!!! he stopped the car on the roadside, we stayed there for a few hours...when fog disappeared, we continued our trip.

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